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1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die | 
| Author: Tom Moon
Publisher: Workman Publishing Company
Category: Book
List Price: $27.95
Buy New: $18.45
You Save: $9.50 (34%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  3 reviews
Sales Rank: 103911
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 992
ISBN: 0761149414
Dewey Decimal Number: 780
EAN: 9780761149415
ASIN: 0761149414
Publication Date: September 15, 2008 (In 18 Days)
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Not yet published
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Product Description
The musical adventure of a lifetime. The most exciting book on music in years. A book of treasure, a book of discovery, a book to open your ears to new worlds of pleasure. Doing for music what Patricia Schultz—author of the phenomenal 1,000 Places to See Before You Die—does for travel, Tom Moon recommends 1,000 recordings guaranteed to give listeners the joy, the mystery, the revelation, the sheer fun of great music.
This is a book both broad and deep, drawing from the diverse worlds of classical, jazz, rock, pop, blues, country, folk, musicals, hip-hop, world, opera, soundtracks, and more. It's arranged alphabetically by artist to create the kind of unexpected juxtapositions that break down genre bias and broaden listeners’ horizons— it makes every listener a seeker, actively pursuing new artists and new sounds, and reconfirming the greatness of the classics. Flanking J. S. Bach and his six entries, for example, are the little-known R&B singer Baby Huey and the '80s Rastafarian hard-core punk band Bad Brains. Farther down the list: The Band, Samuel Barber, Cecelia Bartoli, Count Basie, and Afropop star Waldemer Bastos.
Each entry is passionately written, with expert listening notes, fascinating anecdotes, and the occasional perfect quote—"Your collection could be filled with nothing but music from Ray Charles," said Tom Waits, "and you'd have a completely balanced diet." Every entry identifies key tracks, additional works by the artist, and where to go next. And in the back, indexes and playlists for different moods and occasions.
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| Customer Reviews:
 You have to LOVE music to love this book, but, if you do, it's a good one August 28, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I loved the book 1000 Places to see before you die, so I figured this would be a good book for me because I like music. However, the book overwhelmed me. There was too much to it. My conclusion is that you have to LOVE music to like this book. It seems to cover the spectrum.
The full description of the recordings are listed alphabetically by muscian. Then, there indexes that list the pieces by genre, by occasion, lists of classical and opera composers and performers, and a general index.
 Music Snob Enjoys this Overview August 28, 2008
This is a great book to have, even though it couldn't possibly cover it all. It's amazing how much information is packed into this little volume, and how well it is organized. I especially like that each entry includes related bands/albums, so it's easy to discover even more great music. Although the book left out some of my favorites, the depth and breadth of music genres it covers is impressive. The writing is great, and my favorite part is how each entry has a title that fits it to a tee. I spent an hour just flipping through to the different bands I loved to find what title the book had given them--some left me hysterically laughing! I'd give it two thumbs up.
Mission Impossible? Mission Accomplished! August 28, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
"1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die" represents a challenge Martin Landau and the IMF would love: "How do you present a mere 1,000 musical recordings across all major genres, across an entire century, and sufficiently global as to be credible while not esoteric?"
Put shorter, "Who made YOU the judge? And why are you such a snob?"
There are no upsides to undertaking such a project for the arbiters of musical taste.
While I was duly impressed with Tom Moon's boldness, I was fully prepared to gut him for his shortcomings in selecting these "essential" recordings.
First, the boring stuff:
The book is sorted alphabetically by artist. This presents some difficulty for, say, opera composers, as a given performance of "Madame Butterfly" might be under the composer or the artist. Fortunately, indexes refer to both. Unfortunately, whomever compiled the index (probably that Microsoft Word fella) didn't check for relevance---when I look up Beethoven's 9th Symphony, it takes me to a parenthetical reference to it (main subject: the "Missa Solemnis"), the page where it's truly discussed is not in the index.
As a reference book, this poses some trouble. As a skimmer, it poses none.
Now, let's get to the content.
Many, many genres are represented here. Classical music and opera are given due prominence; country, metal, and Southern Rock are an afterthought; folk is way overrepresented; blues, rap, world, disco, and pop are about right. I'd say this compilation reflects the usual Baby Boomer view of the world of music leavened by a bit of "Empire Records" snobbery.
So how'd the artist and recording selection by genre fare?
Quite well, surprisingly.
Since this is a target-rich environment for the snide, let me praise Caesar before we bury him.
I tested content by looking up some movers and shakers in genres I'm fairly knowledgeable about.
Alternative: The Pixies - "Doolittle"
Okay, that means Moon isn't a fool. You HAVE to include The Pixies, and "Doolittle" was their biggest and most influential album.
Blues: Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - "The Sky Is Crying"
The best blues guitarist yet produced must be included, but what about this pick? It's quite informed. Though a posthumous release, "The Sky Is Crying" is my favorite SRV LP and contains his best instrumental track (his blazing cover of Hendrix' "Little Wing") as well as the deeply affecting acoustic song "Life By the Drop". The title song was an instant classic and the revised take of "Empty Arms" corrected an awful production decision on an earlier album. I've got to admit---it's a helluva pick.
Hard Rock - AC/DC - "Back in Black"
Missed opportunity here. As seminal as this album was, its immediate predecessor "Highway To Hell" dwarfs it. Doomed lead singer Bon Scott's finest hour surpasses Brian Johnson's clutch performance in the wake of tragedy.
Grunge - Mother Love Bone - "Apple"
Moon's got some grunge cred. This was the album which straddled the glam and grunge eras and gave birth to the sludgy sound of the 90s, for good and ill. Out of it and lead singer Andrew Young's heroin O.D. came Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, and all of their imitators. Nice pick.
Blues - Muddy Waters - "At Newport 1960"
This is my favorite album from the Chicago blues master, the man who invented the modern blues combo. Nice pick.
Metal - Metallica - "Master of Puppets"
Your little sister would pick "The Black Album" of course, but it was "Master of Puppets" which your cassette player melted down over. Nice pick.
Opera - Verdi - "Aida" featuring Leontyne Price
I simply cannot argue with this choice. Verdi's the master of opera, "Aida" in my opinion is his finest, and this 1962 recording is my favorite recording of it. Nice pick, and stop raiding my music library!
There are some quibbles:
1. No Iron Maiden?
2. Britney Spears "Toxic" isn't a recording Kevin Federline needs to listen to before he dies, much less the rest of us.
3. No Dean Martin?
4. The Beatles more essential than Beethoven? (6 albums to 5)
But given the monumental task of pleasing casual listeners and outright nose-raisers across such a spectrum of music, these are minor quibbles indeed.
All in all, a remarkable reference, and one worth building some iTunes playlists from --- well, would you look at that: at the rear of the book are suggestions for just such playlists!
A worthy addition to the audiophile or audiophobe's library.
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